The navy is making plans to refit a 40-year-old Halifax-based supply ship that completed a $40-million refit in 2005, raising questions about a replacement program that ran aground last summer.
HMCS Preserver, the navy’s sole East Coast supply ship, is slated to be out of commission from March 2010 until January 2011 for the overhaul, according to a public notice issued this week. That’s sure to leave people wondering what’s happened to the $2.9-billion program that was put on hold last August with a late-night announcement after bids to build the new joint support ships came in over budget.
"Your phone call today makes me skeptical that we’re going to see an announcement soon," Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate committee on national security and defence, said Friday. "It sort of points at, ‘It’s going to be awhile, folks.’ "
The joint support ship program "is very much alive," said a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay. "This government remains committed to it and it is being pursued," Dan Dugas said in an email....
